Tolerate: to allow;exist or occur without interference.
Intolerance: unable or indisposed to tolerate; unwillingness to recognise and respect

I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.

Gluten and lactose are not my friends.

Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.

I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

January 20, 2012

Son In Law Eggs

I've been meaning to make these for a while now.

The idea of crisp, crunchy eggs paired with a sticky caramel sauce called to me and excited my imagination. I get like that sometimes, and when it happens it is very hard to resist the urge to create it straight away, regardless of ingredients or ability.

Lucky for me these ingredients are pantry staples in our home, and its a very easy recipe to make-despite the fact peeling eggs with one hand is nigh impossible and took a couple of hours!

There's a bit of a mystery surrounding the origin of this recipe. I certainly don't know which, if any, is correct. I'll leave it up to you to decide Dear Reader.

One version claims that Mother-In-Law came to visit unexpectedly, and wife being out, the burden of cooking dinner fell upon unhappy Son-In-Law. Panicing and throwing whatever was available into a pot, he busied himself with the rice, catching the sauce ingredients just on the verge of ruin. With courage born of despair, he served the rice and burnt sauce over the eggs, and thus a legend was created.

The other version paints a very different picture.
Hearing rumours of unpleasant and unacceptable behaviour in her Son-In-Law, Mother-In-Law came to visit. Offering to make dinner and give her long suffering daughter a break, she created a dish with hidden meaning. Excited by the smells of a delicious dinner, cranky Son-In-Law sat down for once in a good mood, only to be confronted by what looked like a very personal part of the male anatomy staring up at him from his plate.
With a wicked grin, she suggested that he treat his wife- her daughter, with a bit more consideration, or next time she visited, she would be frying and slicing very different ingredients...

Boil eggs to medium. I tried to have soft boiled, but they were just impossible to peel. Ultimitely you want lovely molten centres, but do what you have to do. By the way, older eggs are much easier to peel than fresh.

For the Chilli Caramel Sauce, place the water and sugar in a small saucepan, along with the finely sliced chilli and tamarind.

Boil until the sugar is dissolved and the sauce has thickened and caramelised gently.

Pull off the heat and stir in the lime juice and fish sauce.

While the sauce is cooking, get started on the eggs.

Once they are peeled, make sure they are quite dry then roll them carefully into an inch or so of hot vegetable oil and fry until golden brown and with a crispy skin.
I have seen these made by sliding a raw egg directly into a wok of hot oil, allowing the whites to instantly bubble and crisp, but leaving the yolk lovely and runny. I look forward to trying them this way when I've recovered a bit more dexterity and mobility, but considered in the case of hot oil that discretion is the better part of valour :)

Cut the now crispy eggs into halves so as to to alarm your diners, or Son-In-Law, and arrange on a bed of steamed rice then drizzle heavily with delicious sauce and pile on fried shallots.

Served with a wedge of lime and a generous side of mixed corriander and mint to tone down the buzz of the chilli, this is an amazing dish with all the crunch, heat, sweet, sour, salty, fresh zing you should expect from Thai cuisine.

I loved every bite.

It's one of my new favourites and would be perfect for lunch, brunch, dinner, supper, or just a snack. I hope you give it a try and love it as much as I do.

So Dear Readers, which version of the story do you think is the true one, and who is the Real Hero?

My first day at work at my last job I was so nervous and accidently dunked my whole finger in the deep fryer- Luckily it wasn't quite up to temperature, but I refuse to be afraid! But you could shallow fry if you just keep turning them :)

Holey moley! Does that combo look tantalizing!! I adore Asian cuisines, and this looks right up my alley! Peeling soft boiled eggs IS trickier, for sure! If you have time to share on our new blog hop, Allergy Free Wednesdays, we'd love it! http://tessadomesticdiva.blogspot.com/2012/01/allergy-free-wednesdays.html

Hi there, this is a really nice post involving eggs. It would be great if you linked to it in my brand new Food on Friday series. This week it is about all things egg. Food on Friday It would make my day if you put a link into it via the Mr Linky widget.

About Me

The InTolerant Chef is the nom-de-plume of The InTolerant Chef.She lives in Canberra,Australia,with her husband Big J, and 2 daughters, Little j and Middle C. Gluten and Lactose are not her friends. She also has many chemicals who refuse to tolerate her, and insulin finds her hard to resist. Despite all this, the InTolerant Chef is a healthy,happy person who loves cooking for her family and friends.